A Rurouni's Life
by UB-001
Summary: A collection of one shots and drabbles, told in no particular order, looking inside the life and mind of Himura Kenshin. From childhood to death, from the eyes of others to his very own, we try and gain an understanding of one man's complicated life.
1. A Select Few

Knowing that I don't have the skill to write a full narrative I decides that instead I would write a number of drabbles focusing on Kenshin, this one was scribbled in my note book during a lecture when I got bored. I'll try my best to put out one at least every week if not fortnightly.

* * *

 **The Select Few**

* * *

To the most of Tokyo he was simply Himura-san, he young tenant of the rather scandalous Kamiya Dojo. To them he wore a sword on his hip, despite the sword ban, had a horrid scar on his face and flaming red hair that made people question his heritage.

Fewer yet, knew his skill with the sword and his polite and deferent disposition. And even less knew his history, of a war and an epithet that still put fear in the hearts of men.

And finally only a select few knew that despite everything, what a wonderful man he truly was.

* * *

25.08.16


	2. Friends

The next story in my series of drabbles, expanding more on the select few mentioned in the drabble before.

* * *

 **Friends**

* * *

He can't really say that he has ever really had any friends, they are simply not something that had come easily to him. As a child he had been labeled a demon due to his hair, so the other village children had said away from him. He had those three sisters during his time as a slave, but they where never truly friends, just people that looked out for him.

One again the table of demon followed him when he became Battousai and it was because of that, that people feared him, leaving him alone in the war. Yes, there was Katsura and the woman of the inn, maybe even Tomoe, but he wouldn't count them as friends, not truly.

It only took him 27 years but then he met Kaoru, she he could say, was his first true friend and they didn't stop. From Sano and Yahiko to even Saito, even if Saito would rather commit Seppuku than admit it. Finally he felt like he had a place to belong and people that, no matter what, wouldn't leave him.

* * *

26.08.16


	3. Baka Deshi

Kenshin's early years through the eyes of his master.

* * *

 **Baka Deshi**

* * *

Hiko Seijio XIII was never completely sure why he decided to take the kid in, he was too small and clearly uneducated but he showed compassion and a certain amount of inner strength.

Hiko never regretted teaching the boy Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, even after the brat ran away to help in that useless revolution. After all his heart was in the right place when he left, even if he was a bit misguided.

When he heard the first reports of a man with red hair that cut down his enemies with a single stroke, he could only hope that the brat would come out of the revolution alive and sane. Although it was a shock to see a new grave marker in amongst the stones belonging to those three sisters, maybe the rumour of the Battousai killing his own wife wasn't just a rumour after all.

He could only hope the Kenshin was alright.

* * *

28.08.16


	4. Hiko

The sequel to Baka-Deshi. A little bit longer than the last one and more focused on Hiko than Kenshin.

* * *

 **Hiko**

* * *

Hiko had long decided that if Kenshin showed up on his doorstep asking to comeback then there would be little doubt in his mind that he wouldn't turn him away, not to say that he wouldn't make him worry he would never admit it, he missed the brat and was disappointed that he never came back after he left the revolutionaries after Toba-Fushimi.

As the years went by, Kenshin still failed to return, although Hiko held a spark of pride when he heard rumours and stories of a skilled, red headed swordsman wondering the countryside helping people. He thought that his idiot apprentice finally understood the philosepys of Hiten-Mitsurugi.

It surprised Hiko when he felt a presence climbing his mountain, not that it didn't happen, it just didn't happen all that often. Maybe it was just some amateur swordsman that had heard of him and decided to challenge him, he'd teach the kid like he did all the other ones.

Hiko never imagined Kenshin would come back after all these years but here he stood all grown up, a little worse for wear and carrying an idiotic blade, but he was happy, his student was back after he had long given up hope. Kenshin had changed, not only had he grown up and become a man but he had also mellowed and lost the temper of his youth, but he hadn't lost the spark in his eyes. Hiko knew that he would die within the week after passing on the succession technique and he was happy to do so, after all when he first took Kenshin in, he expected to be long gone by now with the brat having since taken up the mantel.

He just hoped that Kenshin expected the shit he was going to give him.

* * *

30.08.16


	5. Books

It's been some time since I released the last drabble but unfortunately my Grandfather died and that through a spanner into the works and between that, university and placement my life has been hectic to say the least

* * *

 **Books**

* * *

Despite what he had told Tomoe, he had read every single one of those books. It had always given him something to do on the sleepless nights when images of death and murder had kept him awake.

Looking back, Kenshin thinks that the only reason that he told her that he hadn't read a single one was because it de-humanized him, it made him more of a figure of fear, a true hitokiri.

Maybe in the future he would be able to read those book again, but this time in his own time when nightmares don't keep him awake at night, when he can read a book before going to sleep instead of waiting for everyone else to wake up. But those times are far into the future, if they ever happen.

In his heart Kenshin knows that there will never not be a time when nightmares wake him up.

* * *

Stay tuned for the next drabble, I have a few ideas but they might take a while.

16.10.16


	6. Slave Trade

Ok, it's been a while. I don't want to make excuses, but I was busy with uni, then dropping out of uni and now a job.

* * *

 **Slave Trade**

* * *

"I'll give you 200 mon for the boy."

"Come now, he must be worth more than that, look at how pretty, how exotic he is!"

"He is pretty, but he is small and weak, and a boy at that. 200 is my last offer, you can at least by some rice for your village."

"Fine, take the boy, he is worthless to us after all".

And with a small exchange of money and a smaller conversation, the future of young Shinta had been set in stone, a life that could have been that of the third born son of a poor farming family, or could have been a life of servitude and pain. Although little did the slave trader, or even the elder of the small southern village of Himura, know that they witnessed, and participated, in the start of a chain of events that would lead to the birth of the Tokugawa Shogunate's worst nightmare, Hitokiri Battousai.

* * *

Not to sure how much 200 mon is worth, did a little research but couldn't find much in the 10 minutes I spent of Wikipedia. I'll also say that the amount of money was meant to be insulting, so is 200 a lot or near nothing, I need a sweet spot in that it's way less than average for a slave but not the equivalence of pocket change. Any advice would be helpful.

Let it be known that I am horrendous with dialogue and have huge trouble with formatting it, that's why you don't tend to see it, so if you see any problems, let me know. Anyone want to be a my beta reader?

02.08.17


	7. Parents

In celebration of the one year anniversary of this series.

* * *

 **Parents**

* * *

Looking at his newborn sons sleeping face, and pondering on the fact that he had little idea how to be a father, Kenshin realised that he can't really remember his own mother and father. They had died so long ago and so much had happened since he lost his family to cholera as a child and all he could hope was that the same sort of thing didn't happen to his own son.

All that Kenshin could really remember of his own father was a gruff, older man, who had little time to spend with his youngest son. A man who, after hours at work in the fields, sat in front of the fire and enjoyed what little luxury their family could afford at the time.

He can't really remember the face of his mother other than the ratty black hair and lines in a face that wasn't that old. But she had done little else than look after her children and cook what meagre meal that they could scrounge up that night, one's that had mostly consisted of rice and maybe something a little more substantial, like fish if either father or his brothers had managed to catch one. His mother had been fundamentally different to Kaoru.

On the other had the person that he remembered most was his oldest brother, the one that had carved his spinning top for him only a month before he had died of the disease that was soon to take his parents. Although despite his memories of Taka, his other siblings escaped him, Kenshin couldn't even remember any of their genders, let alone a face or a name.

It was then that his own son, little Kenji, opened his eyes for the first time and he saw the same blue as his wife. It was looking into those brilliant blue eyes that Kenshin knew that Kenji would have a better life that young Shinta would have ever though possible.

* * *

Who would have thought I would still be doing this one year down the track? I certainly wouldn't have since I though I would release, maybe, five chapter, get bored and then abandon it to stay forever unfinished. But never fear for I think I will never truly stop writing, it might just take a while to get inspiration or even just find the will. I'm also thinking of changed the name, never did really like it since it sounded just a little bit off. Any ideas?

24.08.17


	8. Kenji - Part One

I've been wanting to do something with Kenji for a while now, never truly figuring out how to write it. My first idea was Kenshin's thought on his new born son and how good of a father he would be, but it evolved into a story on Kenji's thoughts about his father and discovering the truth.

Please note that I don't think of the OVA as cannon and in fact think of it at pure bullshit.

* * *

 **Kenji - Part One**

* * *

Growing up Kenji held little to no respect for his father. He thought the man weak willed, much too soft and nowhere near good enough for his mother. He most likely even got his scar in some stupid accident or something along those lines. He couldn't fathom why his beautiful and strong mother would have even given the time of day to a man like his father.

Kenji was ten when he first saw the photo, one taken in Yokohama about 13 years previously. The second thing he noticed, after noting how beautiful his mother was at the time, was the sword that seemed to simply be a part of his father's hip. It was impossible to even think of his father using that sword, he was too much of a wimp among other things. The only plausible explanation that he was able to find, was that he never actually used that sword and it was only used as an intimidation technique, after all he had never seen his father pick up a bokken, let alone a real sword. It wasn't until five years had passed that he found out the true reason behind that sword.

By the time he was fifteen, Kenji's disrespect turned into a curtain type of bitter resentment. It was at breakfast, only a few weeks after his fifteenth birthday, when his father announced that he needed to make a trip to Kyoto. Kyoto had always been a controversial place for the family, Kenji had wanted to go for years, since Misao kept inviting the whole family to visit the Oniwabanshu whenever she visited. But his father always declined her offer, so to be told that he was suddenly going of undisclosed reasons was a true surprise. All his father had said about it was that something had happened to someone call Hiko, although his mother seemed worried over the news.

On the journey down to Kyoto, his father was rather closed lipped about this Hiko person, all he had been able to pry from his father was that he had known him since he was a young child. Interestingly enough, that was the first piece of information that Kenji ever received about his father's childhood.

As they were arriving in Kyoto his father pulled out a rather large bandage and suck it onto his cheek, over his scar. His father was acting strangely, first a suspicious trip to Kyoto, then a mystery man called Hiko and now a bandage covering a scar that his father had never been afraid to show. Things kept getting stranger and stranger, and it all revolved around Kyoto and his father. Whatever was going on Kenji really didn't like it.

End of Part one.

* * *

Up next Kenji meets Hiko and discovers his fathers past.

Although what do people think of my characterization of Kenji? I see him as hot headed, a complete mummies boy and having a certain dislike of his fathers lifestyle.

25.09.17


	9. Obituary

**Obituary**

* * *

 _At 10am on Sunday the 19th of October 1924, Himura Kaoru was declared dead, having dies peacefully in her sleep of an unknown illness. Himura Kaoru was survived by her husband of 45 years, Himura Kenshin (Age 75). Himura Kaoru married Kenshin at the age of 19 in 1879 and gave birth to their only child, Himura Kenji, a year later. She then spent the rest of her life as master of her family kenjutsu dojo with her first student Myojin Yahiko. She will be sorely missed by her husband, family, friends and former students. It is said that she truly touch everyone she met in her life._

It took a number of weeks for Kenshin to wrap his head around the fact that Kaoru was dead, in his mind Kaoru was still the young woman who offered him a room in her dojo. She couldn't be dead, he was supposed to have died first, he was the one that had used and abused his body, she wasn't dead, and she had just gone out to visit another dojo like she had when they were younger, that was it, and she would be back for dinner. The most heart breaking part was that she wouldn't be back for dinner, or any other meal, she would never walk through the dojo gates again.

* * *

It's a little bit different but I had fun writing it. There's a small part of me that likes the idea of Kaoru dying first as one final fuck you to Kenshin from the universe. Also, if it wasn't obvious, Kaoru died of a type of cancer.

26.09.17


	10. Kenji - Part two

**Kenji - Part Two**

* * *

It was when Misao went to turn onto a main thorough fair and his father stopped her that Kenji realised how odd he had been acting since they had arrived I Kyoto. He walked down the street with a familiar kind of grace, something that seemed strange to see his father with, he also seemed to keep towards the shadier parts of the road and if anyone where to even remotely glance at him for longer than necessary, he would look like he was about to bolt.

The day after their arrival, when his father had left to see this Hiko, Kenji was able to sneak off, wanting to see Kyoto for himself. Stepping out into the late spring sun, Kenji had little idea where to go first or how to even get there in the first place. He turned left, deciding to just wander for a little while. Half an hour later as he was sitting on a bench outside a small dango stall, he noticed an elder man, a few years older than his father, giving him odd looks across the street. He would stare, shake his head, look away and then stare again, repeating a number of times. When he turned away again, Kenji quietly left to watch the man's expression and he was rewarded when the man went to stare again and turned as pale as the moon. Odd.

As a new day came in Kyoto, Kenji learnt what this Hiko person wanted, apparently he had simply wanted to talk, Kenji didn't know what about but he did know that his father had come back with an undisclosed bundle. He wondered who Hiko was to his father because he wouldn't just come to Kyoto for just anything, especially after to obviously avoiding it for so many years.

Later that day Kenji went for a stroll through town while his father continued with his odd behaviour by running a mysterious errand. It was when he was in the main shopping district that Kenji was stopped with a tight grip to his shoulder by a man with an ashen face.

"You! You shouldn't be here, you should be dead. You should have gone back to the hell you came from when it was all over. You really are a demon, you haven't aged a day, Battousai!"

Kenji was able to get away from the strange man but it left him confused. He knew who Battousai was, everyone did, the Demon of Kyoto, a man who cut down his enemies in a flash of steel and blood without a single thought, a true monster of a man. Although he couldn't figure out why that man would mistake him for such a person, so he put it into the back of his mind and moved on with his day.

It was when he brought up his encounter with the strange man over dinner, and told his mother what happened, that she shared a look with his father, that he began to wonder what was really the reason behind the mistaken identity. It was there, that night, over dinner that he learnt the truth about his father for the first time.

He was told that at the age of 8 his father had been sold to slavers after his parents had died of cholera and that on the way to Kyoto to be sold, the caravan had been ambushed by bandits and he was the only one to survive. He learnt that this Hiko man was his master and taught his father to wield a sword and one of the deadliest styles, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, which was not only much more difficult to learnt but also incredibly different from his mother's family style. He discovered that the reason that he had been mistaken for Battousai was that when his father was 14 he left his master to join in the Bakumatsu and became a hitokiri. And he was told about Yukishiro Tomoe and her tragic demise that became the reason behind his father's oath to never kill again.

Kenji discovered a lot of things that night, he was finally told of his father's whole past, from his parents death to meeting to meeting his mother and then about Shishio and Enishi and how he brought everyone around him into the problems from his past.

It had turned out that the bundle Hiko had given his dad was the daisho he had used I the Bakumatsu, being told about how it was time to forgive himself and to do that he first had to forgive the swords. Swords that had been kept and cleaned by his dad's master so that they would never be used for murder again.

It was there, that night, over dinner that Kenji got respect for his dad.

* * *

I'm thinking of changing the name of the series, maybe 'The abstract diary of and ex hitokiri' or 'The life and mind of Himura Kenshin'. What do people think.

27.09.17


End file.
